Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 118

118

Loki, guided by Karma, surveyed the Harel territory.

The city, reflecting the moonlight, was truly beautiful as it sparkled.

‘A military stronghold to prevent foreign invasions, and geographically useful for trade with other countries.’

More than anything, the lord of this territory seems to possess considerable power, enough to host festivals like the Colosseum.

“Here it is! The inn I recommended!”

Following Karma’s guidance, they arrived at the entrance of the inn.

Serut tilted her head, her eyes wide with surprise.

“This isn’t an inn….”

“It’s a mansion.”

It looked larger and more spacious than most noble residences.

The building was a four-story mansion, with carriages lined up in the courtyard, and slaves housed in what appeared to be warehouses.

Numerous people were coming and going, all adorned in luxurious clothes and extravagant jewelry, suggesting they were not of ordinary status.

‘The Empire must be wealthy.’

Indeed, with small and large gold deposits buried in every desert territory, the scale of this empire’s wealth must be the greatest on the continent.

‘That’s why so many people live in such harsh environments.’

Loki was lost in thought when.

“Then, shall I go ahead and reserve rooms? I’ll go park the carriage.”

Karma left.

Loki walked towards the inn.

Serut, with her hood pulled up, followed behind.

“Welcome.”

Beautiful slaves opened the large doors from both sides.

As the doors opened, a splendid banquet hall-like interior was revealed.

Precious foods placed on the tables.

Wealthy nobles and merchants enjoying the food there.

And slaves attending to them were visible.

Like a casino gambling hall, people were seen playing simple card games.

Subtle lights illuminated the surroundings, and the fragrant scent made heads feel hazy.

Serut took out a handkerchief from her pocket and covered her mouth and nose.

It was an incense stick made from dried frenzy mushrooms [a type of hallucinogenic substance].

It could make one feel good, but it had side effects of hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, and most of all, it was highly addictive.

“…This place is strange.”

“It must be their culture.”

Some were staggering, intoxicated by the frenzy mushrooms.

‘My head is spinning.’

Serut frowned at the rising incense.

The voices of merchants and nobles echoed, making it difficult to distinguish sounds.

Was it because of that?

Serut belatedly noticed the presence of someone staggering from behind.

Without turning around, she twisted her body to the side to avoid them.

“Uh…? Uh-oh?”

Then, the man who had been staggering tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor.

The slaves behind him panicked and helped him up.

‘Pathetic.’

Serut looked at the man who had fallen, intoxicated by the incense, as if he were a bug, and then turned her gaze behind Loki.

He was already far away.

The man’s expression twisted with disgust at the contempt in her eyes.

But when he saw the long ears between her hood, his expression changed completely.

The corners of his lips curled up.

“Wait! Elf slave! How dare you trip me, who am I?! I am Bahalt, the owner of the Halt Trading Company and connected to Lord Harim, the lord of this Harel territory!”

Serut, who was about to follow Loki, stopped.

She looked at the man shouting at her.

“How dare a slave trip me, Bahalt, who is connected to Lord Harim, the lord of this Harel territory!?”

“……?”

Even though he couldn’t steady himself, his tongue worked just fine.

But what he spat out was nonsense.

She had simply avoided the man who was falling because he couldn’t keep his balance.

“Who is the owner of this slave!?”

The man shouted.

“What’s going on?”

Loki turned around and approached with quiet steps.

“It’s nothing. Just some crazy….”

Serut looked at Loki.

As he looked down at her, she dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief, avoided his gaze, and corrected herself.

“…Just someone who’s mentally unstable talking nonsense.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Are you the owner of this slave!?”

“I’m something like this kid’s guardian. However, this child is not a slave but a companion.”

“Not a slave? So you’re saying she has no owner.”

The man’s smile deepened.

He stood up and pointed to his clothes.

“My clothes are dirty. Do you know how much this costs? 30 gold coins.”

“…….”

“How are you going to compensate me for this?”

“Is there any proof that this child dirtied your clothes?”

“Proof? I have witnesses!”

The man named Bahalt turned around and looked at his slaves.

“Didn’t you see!?”

“Yes, we saw it. That child tripped the master.”

“Yes, it looked that way to me too.”

The slaves trembled and spoke.

“You saw it too, didn’t you?”

Bahalt looked at the tables where the merchants belonging to his trading company were.

The merchants at the table chuckled.

“Of course!”

“That child tripped Lord Bahalt!”

“See?”

Bahalt laughed loudly.

Loki looked at his companions.

-\’Good prey.’

-\’Judging by their appearance, they seem to be wandering travelers?’

-\’They seem to have come here out of curiosity, but they’re about to have a proper initiation.’

-\’A dark elf slave, Trading Company Lord. You’ve struck gold today.’

It was a setup.

Loki took out a leather pouch from his pocket and threw it at the feet of the Trading Company Lord Bahalt.

“Will this be enough?”

Bahalt saw the leather pouch fall and open.

It contained lumps of gold coins.

Bahalt’s eyes lit up.

“Oh ho! It seems you have quite a bit of money, don’t you?”

Accordingly, his companions’ eyes also changed.

Greed was evident.

Foreign travelers.

There is a peculiar culture in the Kron Empire.

Respect and treat those who have connections with imperial nobles, merchants, etc.

In the empire, this is expressed as ‘connections.’

However, those without ‘connections’ are ignored and treated poorly.

Even within the empire’s laws, they are mostly applied disadvantageously.

Therefore, they were nothing more than good prey.

Thanks to this, this culture has become the standard for determining the values of imperial citizens.

For imperial citizens, foreigners were recognized as being akin to ‘slaves.’

Without a guide, the Kron Empire was the worst place on the continent in terms of security.

Bahalt’s trading company members stood up.

They were about to approach Loki and Serut.

Some of those in the inn watched with amusement.

Others cast sympathetic glances.

It was a common occurrence for a traveler to be found naked and dead overnight, or to become a slave and be sold in the market.

These travelers would be no different.

“Everyone is watching.”

“Huh?”

Loki ignored everyone’s gaze and looked at Bahalt.

“Then you’ll see that I’m not doing anything to you either.”

“What do you….”

Loki pointed his index finger at Bahalt.

And gently turned his hand to the left.

Thwack-!

Bahalt’s left cheek was bent sideways as if struck by a lump of iron.

Teeth fell out in droves, and his jaw collapsed.

“Huh?”

Perhaps due to the overwhelming shock?

Bahalt, who didn’t even feel the pain, widened his eyes and touched his left cheek.

A deeply dented left cheek.

Everyone in the inn who was about to approach stopped abruptly.

“What are you doing…?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Loki’s bloodshot eyes stared at Bahalt.

“W-What did you do!”

He turned his finger to the right.

An intangible air in the void struck Bahalt’s right cheek.

Thwack-!

The cheekbone of his right cheek collapsed.

“Keugh-!”

He pointed his finger from bottom to top.

Thwack-!

His jaw shattered, and his body floated into the air before being slammed onto the floor.

“L-Lord of the Trading Company!”

As the merchants and their slaves rushed over, Serut blocked their path.

“[Fight among yourselves].”

Serut’s eyes glowed red.

The approaching merchants and slaves looked at each other, and soon began to fight.

The inn became noisy.

“Wait a minute! This is going to be a problem!”

Those who appeared to be inn guards rushed out and began to stop the brawl.

Serut looked at Loki and bowed her head in apology.

“I’m sorry. I caused trouble again.”

“They started it first. And you could have handled it alone without my intervention.”

With Serut’s abilities, she could have dealt with them sufficiently.

Nobles and other merchants were impressed by the sight.

“Excellent!”

It was an enjoyable spectacle.

Unique magic and mysterious abilities.

Greed filled their eyes.

It was not easy to meet people like them.

To form a good relationship, or to make them slaves.

Those two thoughts were deeply ingrained in the minds of everyone gathered at the inn, and they began to approach Loki and Serut.

There was someone who took a step before those people.

“Ah, I’m sorry! I’m late!”

It was Karma.

As he approached Loki and Serut and acted like he knew them, the nobles and merchants stopped in their tracks.

In the Kron Empire, it was implicitly forbidden to mess with the ‘acquaintances’ of nobles or merchants.

With a ‘guide’ present, the usual custom and tradition was to establish a relationship through that ‘acquaintance’ in order to approach them.

The nobles and merchants licked their lips and gave instructions to their slaves.

-Find out who that merchant is.

Loki looked at the relaxed Karma and said.

“You knew this would happen.”

Karma burst into laughter and said.

“Sorry! I wanted to see what your abilities were like! But a magician, it was a truly rare and unique magic. Or was that also a divine power? Anyway, I’m lucky. To have a connection with skilled people like you!”

Loki looked at the Trading Company Lord Bahalt.

The Trading Company Lord Bahalt was unconscious.

With all the bones in his face crushed, it was a miracle he was alive.

“Is it okay to leave him like that?”

Judging by appearances, he seemed to be the lord of a fairly large trading company.

He wondered if flies would gather unnecessarily.

“Ah, it’s okay. It’s okay. Well, there might be some retaliation, but I’ll take care of it myself. Rather, thank you for messing with them!”

“……?”

Karma uttered meaningful words.

“And here.”

Karma held out a document in his hand.

[Colosseum Participation Application]

“Your skills. I want to see them up close! So, I’m going to participate in this competition too!”

Karma looked at Loki and Serut with sparkling eyes.

They were like jewels.

Coming out into the world despite his younger sister’s dissuasion was the right answer.

He couldn’t miss this good opportunity.

***

Lord Harim looked at the Trading Company Lord Bahalt, who was connected to him, lying on the bed, crippled.

“Haaah….”

All his teeth had fallen out, and his jawbone and cheekbones were completely shattered.

Because of that, he couldn’t speak properly.

His slave, who was next to him, spoke on his behalf.

“He, he seems to be saying, ‘Lord Harim…’”

“…Who made you like this? Surely, you didn’t fail to mention my name?”

“Ah-ah-ni-ah.”

“Ah, no, I didn’t.”

It is the slave who can survive with tact, and also be recognized and live luxuriously.

Bahalt’s closest slave quickly interpreted and conveyed Bahalt’s words.

“He seems to be saying that he definitely mentioned your name.”

“Even after hearing my name, they laid a hand on you!! And that was done by foreigners who aren’t even citizens of the Kron Empire?!”

This was tantamount to looking down on the Kron Empire and insulting the nobles of the empire.

Lord Harim was furious.

The slave conveyed Bahalt’s words instead.

“They are foreigners, but they are accompanied by a man with considerable looks and a dark elf. He wanted to make them slaves, but a problem occurred.”

Lord Harim was tempted by the words dark elf.

Humanoid slaves were quite rare, and Lord Harim especially favored elf slaves.

“I will immediately release soldiers to make those guys slaves-!”

“They have a ‘guide.’”

“What?”

The slave carefully continued.

“Judging by the merchant who distributes ‘frenzy mushrooms,’ he seems to have connections with the imperial family.”

“…Is he the lord of a fairly large trading company?”

“It doesn’t seem so. He seems to be acting alone. Judging by the foreigners’ strength, it may be that they were hired as escorts….”

The scale of the trading company is not that large.

He was lucky enough to have connections with skilled people, so they are escorting him….?

‘Besides, that guy has frenzy mushrooms? Tempting.’

Lord Harim suppressed his anger.

According to the laws of this empire, nobles and merchants were equal.

Moving without justification would cause great harm.

That means he had to create a justification.

“And they are participating in the Colosseum. So is the merchant who is acting as their guide.”

The Colosseum?

Lord Harim’s face brightened.

He didn’t know what guts the merchant had to participate in that competition, but in the Colosseum, it wouldn’t be strange for any accident to happen.

If the guide dies, those foreigners would be the same as being outside the Kron Empire’s tacit customs and traditions.

“They are participating in the Colosseum?”

“Wh-What are you planning to do?”

Looking at Bahalt’s eyes, the slave spoke on his behalf.

Lord Harim curled up the corners of his lips.

“I have a plan.”